A horse-drawn cart in a Syrian market in 2008. Scenes like this are now nonexistent as fighting tears apart the country.

Credit: Isaac Alvarez Brugada / Flickr

Chris Lydon On Chemical Weapons And U.S. Intervention In Syria

Radio Open Source host Christopher Lydon talked about the ratcheting up of tension between the US and the Assad regime in Syria. A military strike may be imminent within Syrian borders.

US officials, including the President and Sec. of State John Kerry, have insisted Assad used chemical weapons on citizens and rebel groups. Assad vehemently denied it, and there isn't consensus on the issue.

Should the US intervene to protect citizens? Would this be a step too far? Are there shades of the Iraqi and Afghani conflicts here, or is this a humanitarian mission? Jim Braude and Margery Eagan opened the lines.